Card feeding mechanism for accounting machines



E. A. FORD CARD FEEDING MECHANISM FOR March 15, 1949.

ACCOUNTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May" 5, 1947 AGENT 'March 15,1949. E. A. FORD 2,464,559

Y CARD FEEDING MECHANISM FOR IACCOUIVIIIG MACHINES Filed may s, 1947 2sheets-snaai 2- 'lNvEN'rQR Ec/GENE A. FORD BY und Q" Mw A G E NTPatented Mar. 15, 1949 CARD FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINESEugene A. Ford, Endicott, N. Y., assignor to International BusinessMachines Corporation,` New York, N. Y., a corporation of New YorkApplication May 3, 1947, Serial No. 745,834'

2 Claims.

The yimproved card feeding mechanism comprising the present inventionhas been designed for use in the feeding of record cards from a stack tothe card line of a sorting machine of the type shown and described in myprior Patent No. 1,633,937, dated June 28, 1927, for Card feedingapparatus. The invention, however, is capable of other uses and the cardfeeding mechanism may, if desired, be employed, with or withoutmodification, in connection with a wide variety of accounting machines,as for example, card punching machines, tabulating machines and thelike.

The invention specifically relates to a group of instrumentalitiescommonly referred to as a picker mechanism in which a picker slide,having associated therewith a picker blade, is caused to reciprocatebeneath the bottom of a card stack in such a manner that upon eachreciprocation thereof the picker blade engages the lowermost card in thestack and impels the same forwardly through a throat mechanism so thatthe card may proceed by means of the usual feed rollers along the cardline.

In carrying out the principles of the present invention, the same brieycontemplates the provisionfof an oscillatable rock shaft upon whichthere are mounted apair of oscillatable picker slide impelling arms, thefree ends of which are operatively connected by a lost motion connectionto the picker slide in such a manner that upon oscillation of the rockshaft and, consequently, of the arms, the slide will be caused toreciprocate laterally to withdraw the cards successively from beneaththe stack and feed them through the throat opening to the card line. Therock shaft also has suspended therefrom a cage-like frame through whichthere passes a rotatable shaft. A circular eccentric cam mounted on theshaft operates upon rotation of the shaft to alternately engage theopposite sides of the cage-like frame and oscillate the same, thus alsocausing the rock shaft to be oscillated.

The principal object of the present invention is to :provide a mechanismof this type in which means are provided for reducing friction betweenthe cam oscillating means and the surrounding cage-like framework to aminimum.

Another object of the invention is to provide zin-arrangement of thischaracter in whicha balancedrclationship exists between the camoscillating means and the oscillatable frame, thus reducing vibrationsvto an'absolute minimum.

Yet anotherobject of the invention i-s to provide a. novel type ofclutch arrangement for 'initi- 2 ating rotation of the cam-operatingshaft'or ca shaft and for terminating such rotation. n y

Convenience of arrangement of parts, simplicity of construction,ruggedness and durabilityv and low cost of manufacture are otherdesirable features that have been borne in mind in the production anddevelopment of the present invention.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed ,f

out in the following description and claims and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of example, the principleof the invention and the best mode, which has been contemplated, ofapplying that principle.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational View, partly in section, of the improvedpicker mechanism per se.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 2 2 ofFig. i in the direction indicated by the arrows,

Fig. 3 is a partial view showing the clutch.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein a full disclosure of theimproved picker mechanism is disclosed, only those portions of thesorting machine to which the picker mechanism has been appliedthatpertain directly to the picker mechanism have been illustrated.These include the front and rear plates I0 and I2 of the sortingmachine, a diagrammatic representation ofV the card line (so labeled),i. e., the horizontal plane along which the cards travel after being`withdrawn from the card stack by the picker mechanism, the reciprocablepicker plate I4, the

picker knife I6 carried thereby, and the adjustable throat I8 throughwhich the cards C con'- tained in the stack 20 thereof are individuallyfed one at a time. The picker plate I4 is adapted to be reciprocated soas to move from a retracted' position shown in dotted lines through theintermediate position shown in full lines to an aclvanced position shownin dotted lines and in so` moving the picker knife I6 engages therear-edge' of the lowermost card C inthe stack 20 and' impels the cardforwardly through the adjustable'Y throat I8 from whence it is picked upby suitable feed rolls I9, 2|, machine.

The picker slide actuating mechanism includes lll and I2.v lA pair`of'collars 28 are pinnedV as at 30 tothe rock shaft 22 in spacedrelation-ship and each collarcarri'esan upwardly extending oscillatablepicker arm 32.' The free ends ofthe" and 'conducted through thel Therock shaft 22 is capable of limited. oscillation` about its axisthroughout the extent indicated by the dot and dash axial linesrepresenting the amplitude of oscillation of the shaft't22.

In order to oscillate the rock-sh'aftt22 throughout the amplitudeindicated above at'predet'ermined times to feed the card (3` from thestack 20, a driven shaft 38 has its eXtreme rear end journaled inanti-friction bearings 40 carried centrally of a cup-shaped. blockmember 42 securedzby, means ofaseriesof vbolts 44 tothe front plateofthe sorting lmachine. The rear end of the shaft 38:.projectscompletely through the rear `plate |2l and isV supported inanti-friction bearingsM carried in laV block 48 mounted on the rear'plate |2. Thefshaft 38 has loosely mounted thereon a circular eccentricmember 50 having a region 52 of high eccentricity and a region 54 oflowfeccentricity; Aseriesl of anti-friction cage and-.bearing members56,y of which there are four in number, are disposed around theperiphery of the-circular Aeccentric member 50 and they in turn aresurrounded orenclosed by an anti-friction ringg58iA A-.pair of circularretaining plates 68 and 62 are disposed on each side of the eccentricmember 50-and a series ofthrough-bolts 64 pass through the nretainingplates and members 60, 62, and retain the ball bearing cage members y5tlin position between the outer periphery of the eccentric member 50-andthe inner periphery ofthe-ring; Apair of collars 66 and 681are-disposedon opposite'sides of the eccentric 4ball-` bearing-v4 assembly" justdescribed and are pinned to the shaft 38 as at 10.

A collar-'Wis pinnedl as at 14 -to the shaft 22 intermediate thetwocollars 28 and is formed With Van venlarged or block portion '16. A pairof cagefsections '|8and 80are'secured by means of studs 82 adjacenttheir upper ends to the opposite sides-of the block= portion 16 of thecollar 12- and these cagef sections are provided with outwardly bowedportions 84 which converge inwardlyjjasat lllftoa point 60I ofi-juncturewhere thextwo lsections are secured together by means of .a nut :andbolt assembly 482. The cage structure afforded bythel two `sections 'I8and 80 surround the eccentric Nball .bearing structure above describedwith the inner surfaces of the cage sections-18 andf80 bearing lightlyagainst or just clearing the periphery of the-anti-friction ringReferringinowf'totFig; 1, thatzportionof the shaft 38' whichisvdisposedaoutsideiof the rear platei` |2 of the sorting' machine; hasmounted thereon and pinned" thereto as at 93 a pulley 94 which isadapted to'be drvenfroma belt 86 and the latter in turn is adapted to becontinually drivenat a constant rate of speed from the electriczmotor,not shown, which controls the sortingt machine operations.A It'will be.noted that inasmuchas the eccentric member .50 is loosely dis/posed.`upon; the 'continuously' rotating shaft 38 motion'roff-the latter'will:not normallybe transmittedfto 4the former .nto `causeoscillation of therockf; shaft 22 f and A consequent recprocation of the picker plate I4.Such oscillation of the rock shaft 22 is adapted to be selectivelycontrolled by means of a suitable electromagnetically operated clutchmechanism, the details of which are best illustrated in Fig. 1.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the through-bolts 44 which passthroughv theblock-member 42 also pass throughpthe inner flange of a spoolmemberdesignated in its entirety at |00. The spool member |00 is provided withan outer ange |02 and a coil |04 forming a part of an electromagnetdesignatedin its entirety at E is disposed between the inner and outerflanges 98 and |02 respectively. The electromagnet E'is provided with ashiftable core |06Which is slotted as at |08 internally, this slotted'portion |08 cooperating with a key l0 vto maintain the core member |06slidable upon but rotatable with the shaft 38. The core |06 is providedwith an annular ange ||2 (see also Fig. 2) which forms a part of theclutch assembly per se. Theangee ||2 has-riveted thereto as at |14ablockiorftooth member. |`|6r having a recess or `cut-away portionzl I8and ther block H8 forms oneelement of theclutch and..

, is designed for cooperation with a tooth: |20- which constitutesthe-other velement ofthe-.clutch and which is secured to the circularretaining.. plate 60 of the eccentricasscmbly.

The core |86 ofthe electromagnet Eis movable `from a retracted positionv,'whereinethe tooth' |20 isA out of the circularfpath of `movemen-tof.the block.- or tooth member |16. to .an advanced position., whereinthese two teeth memberscooperaterby direct contact with each other tocause revolution of..

the eccentric assembly about the axis ofV .theshaft.

38. The core |06=is normallyfurged to its ad,-

vanced position by means-of .a compression spring |22 which is disposedwithin a sleeve.|23.pinned. as at |21 to the shaft38`. The core is thusnormallymaintained in Iits-advanced position .and is. adapted to becomeretracted when the coil |04 of` the electromagnet E.` becomes energized.

In order to prevent reboundon impact'ofthe tooth H6 against the tooth|20, an arcuate spring |25 is riveted as at, |26 tothe outer face oftheflange ||2 and is provided withan outwardlyin'- clined portion |28 whichterminates just short of 1 the upstanding'face of the'frecess4||8'.provided". in the block or tooth member ||6 leavingjust suiicientclearance for positioning off the toothI |20 between this face andtheend ofthe'spring |25, |28. Thus it'will beseenv that upon-initialdeenergization of the electromagnet'Evthe core |06 thereof will be movedto its advanced' position and the inclined'portion'l |28 of the spring|25 will ride over the tooth |20, thus pressing" or flattening thespring |25 'until such time as-the 'l tooth |20 has passedy over the endof the'spring; at which time the outwardly inclined lportion |281" ofthe spring |25 willspring voutwardly and conne thek tooth |20 betweenthe block ||6"and`tlfre-A end of thev spring sol that thereafter'theftwo# parts of the clutch assembly will 'rotatefinunisonf without lostmotion.

It will be noted from an inspection of Fig. 2 that as the moment ofinertia of the mass of the eccentric member 59 shifts upwardly and in aclockwise direction, as indicated by the arrow, a

force is exerted on the shaft 38 which tends to push the sorting machinewhich is associated with the picker mechanism to the right. Sortingmachines of this character are ordinarily mounted on casters andconsequently in such an instance the sorting machine would be responsiveto this thrust by the shaft 38. However, during the same interval, thepicker knife I6 and its slide lf3 are moved in the opposite direction tothat of the eccentric member, thereby applying a force on the shaft 22tending to push the machine to the left. These forces, in a largemeasure, counter-balance each other and the resultant vibration isreduced to a minimum.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out thefundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferredembodiment, it will be understood that various omissions andsubstitutions and changes in the form and details of the apparatusillustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in theart, without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is theintention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope ofthe following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Card feeding mechanism for record cards including a reciprocable cardpicker slide member, a rock shaft mounted for oscillation about an axisbeneath said slide member, a cage member suspended from said rock shaftand having opposed inner side surfaces, a circular cam member disposedWithin said cage member and of a diameter substantially equal to thedistance between said inner surfaces whereby said surfaces are insubstantial contact with diametrically opposed points on the peripheryof said cam member, a continuously rotatable shaft loosely extendingthrough said circular cam member, the axes of said shaft and cam memberbeing spaced apart whereby the cam member is eccentrically disposed onsaid shaft, and means for continuously rotating said shaft,

2. Card feeding mechanism for record cards including a reciprocable cardpicker slide member, a rock shaft mounted for oscillation about an axisbeneath said slide member, a cage member suspended from said rock shaftand having opposed inner side surfaces, a continuously rotatable shaftprojecting through said cage member, a circular disc-like member looselymounted upon said continuously rotatable shaft and eccentricallydisposed thereon, an anti-friction ring surrounding said disc-likemember, a series of anti-friction members disposed between said ring anddisc-like member, the outer periphery of said ring being of a diametersubstantially equal to the distance between the inner side surfaces ofsaid cage member whereby said surfaces are in substantial Contact withthe outer periphery of said ring, and means for continuously rotatingsaid shaft.

EUGENE A. FORD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 495,414 Hughes et al Apr. 11,1893 583,989 Fowler June 8, 1897 2,181,211 Sieg Nov. 28, 1939 2,200,343Reardon May 14, 1940 2,244,250 Johnson June 3, 1941 2,426,049 Rabenda etal Aug. 9, 1947

